Bonds Of Blood And Steel
by SingularlyPervy923
Summary: No power can match the strength that can be found in the heart. A gifted genin trio craft a bond that is stronger than anyone who dare oppose The Village Hidden In The Leaves. AU! OC x OC, multiple pairings (mostly canon).
1. Prologue

_Both shinobi were panting and their chest's were heaving.._

 _One was enduring near fatal damage, bleeding heavily from multiple wounds and dealing with broken and dangling arm. The other wasn't in a much better position, starting to succumb to chakra exhaustion. Needless to say that both ninja are worse for wear, but the gap between the two cliffsides where the bridge used to be is the only thing that is stopping them from once again striking at each other with their fighting spirit._

 _Defending a village requires a level head, but defending your loved ones and those closest to you can lead someone to do some rather miraculous actions. I mean, taking on Orochimaru of the Legendary Sannin isn't exactly the smartest thing that you could do._

 _But somehow, this lowly ranked chunin was standing his ground albeit he was about to reach his limit._

" _I've exhausted his chakra supply... his arm is lifeless and in disarray... so how is he still standing... "_ grumbled Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was starting to get annoyed that the boy wouldn't just lie down. The snake threw his most lethal techniques at him, but it still wasn't enough! His current body was approaching it's time limit, so in his weakened state he was unable to perform a lot of his jutsu.

" _I may be weak, but my power should have been more than enough to kill this leaf scum!"_

Neither had made a move since their retreat from one another, but Orochimaru was started to get unsetteled by the boy, never had he seen such a defiant stance in a shinoni before. After every wound that should have killed him, he keeps getting back up...

The white snake's patience was starting to ware thin.

"The fact you are standing after my onslaught is impressive, but that does nothing to change the outcome of this battle!" Orochimaru viscously hissed at the boy.

The boy with blue hair across from him, remained still with his arm continuing to be dangled.

"Are you really so lost in your ideals that you haven't realised you cannot possibly win this fight?" It was less a question, and more of a statement made from Orochimaru to satisfy himself.

Even though this chunin was fighting for his life, he somehow broke into a smile when Orochimaru said that.

" _A smile? Now he's mocking me... "_ thought Orochimaru with a scowl slowly starting to creep across his face.

Followed by a chuckle. And then his mouth opened.

"You're wrong Orochimaru... I can tell that you are almost empty of chakra, and are about to retreat from the fight..." said the heavily breathing boy.

" _How is he able to tell how much chakra I have? He seems to have powers that I was not aware of, this will be very dangerous for me if I stay here and continue the fight without assistance from Kabuto and Saskue..."_

"It seems I can finally test the limits of how far my beliefs will take me in a fight against evil." he said, before turning his grin flat into a serious gaze. "I'm just going to keep getting back up, I have something you lack that I know will win me this duel... "

Orochimaru began to get curious. He quickly erased that from his mind though once be began to realize that he needed an escape plan, and fast!

"Your power is driven by selfish goals and evil intentions..."

Suddenly, Orochimaru got chills down the back of his spine. The air was rapidly starting to fill with chakra, chakra that coming from the boy opposite him.

"My power is something more than just myself." as he said that, he looked over behind where he was standing, and saw the three unconscious bodies of his squad members.

The ground that was beneath the boy started to shake, and little chunks of dirt started rising from the ground. Orochimaru knew that he had to start moving, but something was keeping him glued to this boy. It was power he had never seen before, comparable to even those of the jinchuriki.

The boy looked back to his opponent.

"My power... comes from the people behind me, the trust that my best friend put in me to stop you from committing anymore devious experiments."

With each passing second, the chakra density around the boy increased, the feeling in the air was somewhat intoxicating to Orochimaru, who just stood there frozen and listened to his speech.

"To repay everything for all the mistakes that you've made over the years and the pain that was caused by your crimes... ". His voice only raised in intensity as he continued to speak. "You hurt my friends, threatened to murder the only remaining family I have left..."

For the first time in his life, Orochimaru felt fear when the boy's eyes looked directly into his own.

"And for all of that... I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

With one final burst of rage, the boy screamed into the sky. His chakra becoming super charged, it was so dense that all the earth around him rapidly rose up from the ground, hiding him from view. Orochimaru continued to stare, amazed by what was happening in front of his eyes.

The scream continued for a minute, before the rubble started to fall, revealing the new form of the boy.

All around his body, his wind and lightning chakra could no longer contain itself inside the boy's body, and gained a jagged blue aura cloak. Electricity cackled around his body, his features becoming slightly more defined.

But one thing remained the same. Those same determined eyes never left Orochimaru's stare.

"I, Raiden Umakata of the Hidden Leaf Village, swear to take you down..."

All the snake could do was watch as the boy finished his transformation.

" _W-where did the sudden surge of power come from? He was almost drained a minute ago, now his power seems to increased by cosmological proportions!"_ thought Orochimaru, with look of fear planted across his face.

"Now... PREPARE TO DIE!" screamed the boy, before launching at his target.

* * *

 **I apologise for the slightly boring and cryptic prologue, but I feel as if I should somewhat introduce the main character at a time when he is somewhat powerful, as to entice interest.**

 **Before you continue reading, I must warn you right off the bat about something. This my first ever full fledged story, so for all the literacy know it alls put there, I am 100% going to make some errors. However, I will not upload a chapter without proof reading and making sure everything is at a point where I feel satisfied in uploading it. I know that it's 2018 and we all starting to move on from shippuden and what not and into Boruto, but I've had this urge to write an OC story for a long time and I feel its time I finally start writing it.**

 **Enough with the rambling, I should start talking about the story now.**

 **If you don't like OC stories, stop right now and go find something else to read. Almost all of the main characters besides Naruto and Yamato are OC, the Konoha 12 and the other leaf shinobi are supporting characters. As a matter of fact, you can forget what I said about Naruto being a main character because he plays more of a supporting role as well (by that I mean that his character isn't getting fleshed out very much, but he does play an extremely important role in the universe of this story much like in the anime and manga, however some things are going to be changed).**

 **There also a couple of other things you must know before reading. I only watch dubbed anime and I've only ever read the Boruto manga, so I don't have a proper understanding of Japanese honorifics, thus I won't be using them and sticking to the dub/English terms. Also, I have only watched up till the end of the Pain Invasion arc, so I do not have a complete understanding of the Naruto universe, though I have done online research and have a vague understanding of what happens. I've planned out what's going to happen in the Part I section of this series, but anything beyond that I have yet to think of, although I do have the end points that I would like the characters to eventually finish as. Depending on how enthusiastic I am, I actually have an interest in continuing this series into the new age (Boruto saga), but that's not going to be for a long while.**

 **First 'proper' chapter shall be uploaded within a week or two.**


	2. Raiden Umakata

I'm going to put authors notes probably at the start and end of each chapter, so keep that in mind.

Something I forgot to mention in the prologue is that I am writing this on android, and I cannot input the correct diacritics, so I apologise for anyone who is fussy about that but that I simply cannot help it. It pisses me off as well :(.

FYI:

"This means that someone is talking."

" _This means that someone is thinking."_

" **This means that an inner voice is speaking."**

" _ **This means that an inner voice is thinking."**_

But without further ado, I present to you to the very first chapter of 'Bonds Of Blood And Steel'.

* * *

"I'm at the end of my rope Naruto! You failed the graduation test last time and the time before that, tomorrow you've got another chance and you are messing up again!" scolded Iruka.

"Hmph... " shrugged Naruto.

An evil smirk developed across the face of Iruka. _"Hmm... He doesn't want to listen to me, fine then, I'll just have to punish everyone and_ _others_ _can scold him..."_ He turned and pointed to the rest of the class. "Fine, because you missed it Naruto, everyone can review the transformation jutsu!"

"Oh man... " said a boy in the back.

"Whyyyy... " called another.

Collective groans were heard throughout the classroom. Everyone was getting just about fed up with Naruto antics, it was usually because of him that they had to do extra work.

* * *

"Alright, Sakura here. Let's do it! TRANSFORM!"

*poof*

When the smoke disappeared, it revealed Sakura perfectly transformed into Iruka.

"You've transformed into me... good job."

"Yes I did it! Sasuke, did you see that?" she asks him in her fangirl tone.

" _I seriously don't understand why Sasuke has so many fangirls..."_ thought Iruka.

"Next up, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke walked up in front of Iruka, and wordlessly transformed into Iruka.

"Uh... good."

Sasuke reverted the transformation and cool walked off.

"Next, Raiden Umakata."

" _Thanks to Naruto, we've had to this 5 times in the last week. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be the last..."_ thought Raiden. He walked up to Iruka and did the same thing that Sakura and Sasuke have already done.

"Good. Now, Naruto Uzumaki."

As Raiden walked off, he could hear Shikamaru and Ino digging at Naruto for making the class do all of this again. _"Just give the guy a break, while I don't like doing all this review work I gotta admit that his jokes are pretty funny."_ As he was walking to the end of the line, he happened to glance at Hinata, who as usual whenever Naruto is in the spotlight, is awkwardly blushing and tapping her index fingers together. _"I'm not sure if she can make it anymore obvious that she likes him, why not just ask him out already?"_ he thought.

Just as Raiden was about to jump in at the back, he turned his head to see that instead of transforming into Iruka, he had used the sexy jutsu instead. Everyone was trying their hardest to not burst out laughing at the sight of Iruka with a massive nosebleed. _"Case in point..."_

At this point everyone was used to the process. Naruto pranks Iruka or is late, everyone gets punished and forced to review either the clone, substitution or transformation jutsu, followed by Naruto performing yet another trick on Iruka and Naruto getting scolded again. Most people were just frustrated by it now, but Raiden always thought it was funny. Considering that there were people in the class like Sasuke who just acts gloomy all time, Naruto added some excitement to the mix.

"I shouldn't have to remind you, but tomorrow is genin exams and what should hopefully be your final day at the academy. You should all try and go to bed early so you are fresh for the exam in the morning. I'll see you all at the start of class tomorrow!" concluded Iruka.

Everyone quickly started running out of class and grabbed their bags from the hallway lockers.

"Bye Iruka-sensei!" waved a student.

"Seeya tomorrow!" said another.

Iruka waved everyone out the door, but much to his surprise, Raiden stayed behind. Iruka called out to Raiden. "Do you need anything Raiden? Usually you would be gone by now."

"There is actually... could I ask you a question Iruka-sensei?" asked Raiden.

"Sure, fire away?"

" _I know it's not any of my business, but I'm worried about Naruto..."_ thought Raiden. "What were to happen if someone failed the genin exam three times?"

"Hmm? Raiden, I don't really think you'll should be worried about failing, you have pretty have a guaranteed chance of pas-."

"It's not me that I'm worried about sensei." Said Raiden, cutting off Iruka.

Iruka began to think about who it was, but he didn't have to for long as there was only one student in the class who had a chance of failing thrice. _"Looks like their are a couple of people who worry for you Naruto..."._ thought Iruka. "I wouldn't be too worried about Naruto, I have a theory as to why he can't complete the clone jutsu... I just need someone with a byakugan to prove it for me."

" _So do I, I wonder if our theories are the same."_ thought Raiden. "Are you aware of my sensory powers Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka facepalmed. "OF COURSE, how could I have forgotten?"

Raiden was confused, but continued anyway. "While I can't exactly see the chakra pathway like someone with the byakugan can, I can still sense whenever someone's energy signature rises and declines. Something I've noticed whenever Naruto performs the clone jutsu, or any jutsu for that matter, he expels a significant amount of chakra, far too much than is required for a simple clone."

" _Looks like we reached the same conclusion..."_ concluded Iruka. "That's exactly what I was thinking of as well. It's unfortunate, but even if that's the case, by law I can't pass him if he can't create a clone. If he fails the exam three times, I must expel him from the academy..."

" _Why must they expel him? If the problem is that the jutsu is too weak for him to use, doesn't that mean they should teach him something better?"_

Both Raiden and Iruka were quite downcast and the realisation that it may be impossible for Naruto to pass.

" _In any case, it's not my job to worry about Naruto. Now that I've found my answer, I should move with preparing myself for the exam."_ Raiden started walking out the classroom.

"Raiden?" asked Iruka, stopping him. Raiden turned his head to look at Iruka.

"It's nice to see that someone besides the hokage is thinking about Naruto. I think he would like it very much if he knew someone had him in their thoughts." said Iruka with a smile.

Raiden didn't give a verbal answer, but just smiled and with a nod, walked out the classroom.

* * *

Raiden exited the academy doors and stretched his arms with a yawn. _"I should probably get some training done before I head home, it's not like I have anything better to do with my time."_ He was about to head off, when someone called his name from a tree in the yard.

"Hey Raiden, we've been waiting for you for ages now. What took you so long?" asked the voice.

"I only stayed back for 5 minutes to talk to Iruka-sensei about something, you're as impatient as ever Yami." said Raiden.

The boy smirked in response as he jumped from the tree to meet his friend. "You read me like a book."

 _The boy with messy black bed hair standing in front of Raiden is Yami Bokura, one of his best friends. They've been friends ever since they both started at the academy, Raiden liked being around Yami because he was one of the couple of people that didn't ogle at his kekkei genkai. Yami is often inpatient and brash, but he is incredibly smart just like Raiden and knows the right course of action in just about every situation. Of course, neither of them can hold a candle to their classmate, Shikamaru in that department. Raiden is one of only two people besides his parents who he has shown his real power, preferring to keep his capabilities to himself._

"We've been best friends for three years, I would be disappointed with myself if I couldn't by now." chuckled Raiden.

"Fair point." Responded Yami.

"Is Sora around anywhere?" asked Raiden

"She's drawing up in that tree back there, apparently the good weather lately has given her inspiration or something like that..." answered Yami, pointing to the tree he jumped from earlier.

"I think she's gone through at least 100 of those drawing books in the last couple of months alone..." sighed Raiden.

"She should start selling them outside the cafe, they are decent enough to make some solid cash." joked Yami.

"You know just as well as I do that the only way she'll ever part with those books is if they were destroyed."

"Hmm... you just gave me a great idea for a prank Raid-." Raiden punched his shoulder before he had a chance to finish.

"That would be just downright cruel Yami." laughed Raiden.

"I suppose you are right, though her reaction would be quite the comical sight."

" _Ughh, it's just as likely that would be a scary sight as well."_ Thought Raiden, shuddering at the thought of Sora going ballistic over one of her prized drawing books going missing.

Raiden started walking over to the tree, with Yami following suit. When they reached the tree, Raiden took in the beautiful sight of Sora perched on a tree branch, swinging her legs as she was staring up at the clouds with her book and pen in hand.

"Sora!" called Raiden, trying to get her attention. She looked down to the voice, and smiled with a wave when she saw who it was. "Raiden!"

 _The girl in the tree was Sora, the other best friend to Raiden and Yami. Raiden and Sora have been friends for even longer than Yami! When Raiden first moved out of the orphanage, he decided to look for places to grab some food whenever he was hungry, there was always places like Ichiraku Ramen and Yakiniku Q but Raiden was never interested in noodle dishes and barbecue. He eventually stumbled across a small western style cafe ran by the Fuwukawa family. It was there that he met Sora and her parents. Turns out that they had just opened the business, and Raiden was only their 8_ _th_ _customer! After a polite welcome from Sora's parents, Raiden took a liking to the shop and quickly became a regular. Eventually, he met the then shy Sora, who decided to come out of her room one day to help around the shop. They started to get along almost immediately, to the point where Raiden would start going to the shop more often just to see her. When Raiden told Sora that he wanted to be an awesome shinobi like all of the hokage, she too took an interest and they both decided to enrol in the academy and stride to become the strongest ninja. When Yami introduced himself to them, the three became best friends and he too shared their goal of becoming the strongest ninja._

"Are you going to join us down here or are you going to stay up there making us wait?" asked Yami, in his typical teasing voice.

"Can you not wait for anything at all Yami?" scoffed Sora.

"I can, but I choose not to when we could be doing something fun right now instead of staring at clouds."

" _It's always like this between these two, Yami teasing Sora for taking too long then her scoffing at his impatience."_ chuckled Raiden as he thought to himself.

"You should try it sometime Yami, take it from Shikamaru, he'll tell you that lying down and cloud gazing is one of the best things ever!"

"But he's the resident class lazy ass, that doesn't count." laughed Yami at his joke.

Raiden decided to speak up and interrupt their little tit for tat conversation. "While I would love to hangout today, I think it's best if I get some last minute training done before tomorrow's test."

Sora looked a little bit downcast when he said that. "But me and Yami were about to invite you to hangout at the cafe for awhile, don't you want to come?"

"Sorry, but like I said I want to make absolute sure that I can pass the test. You two are welcome to join me if you wish?"

"We've done the required jutsu over a million times already, I'm not doing that stupid transformation jutsu again if my life depends on it!" said Yami, with a slightly annoyed expression.

"I agree with Yami on this one Raiden." said Sora.

Raiden sighed. "It's not about being able to simply pass, for me it's about perfecting the jutsu and figuring out ways to use it in accordance with your other skills."

This time is was Yami turn to sigh. _"Here he goes on another one of his 'quest to being the strongest ninja' speeches..."_

"On the quest to being the strongest ninja, one must go beyond grasping a jutsu, and learn to master said jutsu..."

Rounding at the trio of sighs was Sora. _"I love you Raiden, but these speeches of yours are starting to get quite repetitive..."_

 _Oh yeah, Sora has also had a crush on Raiden ever since they became friends. At first it was just teasing from her parents, but as she grew older she started to realise that she did actually have feelings for Raiden as more than a friend. Though she can control and mask her feelings allot better than any of Saskue's fangirls or that Hinata girl in her class._

"... And that is why training whenever you can is the optimum way to get stron-."

"Okay okay Raiden, if we promise to come train with you will it get you to shut up?" said Yami, saying it more like a statement than a question.

Raiden took a triumphant stance, basking it his victory. _"I hate doing those corny speeches, but whatever works..."_ He then turned his attention Sora. "I've persuaded Yami, but are you going to come with us Sora?"

" _You didn't need to ask me twice, but I really was looking forward to relaxing at home..."_ Sora snickered in mock disgust. "Training with you and Yami, why would a fair maiden like myself do such a thing with the likes of you when I could just sit at home with a lovely biscuit spread?"

"Pssffff, fair maiden my ass!" Yami doubled over laughing.

Sora spun her head around and glared daggers at Yami, instantly shutting him up. Raiden spoke up before the situation could get anymore serious. "Will you come if we all go have a snack at your house after we ate finished."

Sora smirked. _"HAH, got him hook line and sinker."_

"Hey! I don't have enough money to be spending it on things willy nilly like that!" complained Yami.

"Don't be ridiculous Yami, if you seriously don't have enough money then I'll buy you a sandwich or something." said Raiden.

"... I don't feel comfortable taking handouts like that, but you do owe me after I bought lunch for you the other day I guess." sighed Yami.

"Well in that case, I'd say it's time we head off!" exclaimed Raiden. He turned on his heel and start walking out the courtyard with Yami beside him. That leaved Sora in the tree on her own. "HEY, I DIDN'T SAY IF I AGREED TO GO OR NOT YET!" she screamed, frustrated that they both ditched her. _"Grrrrr... when I catch up to them, I'll give them a piece of my mind..."_ She quickly packed her book and pen in her backpack and jumped out the tree, running towards the boys. "WAIT UP!"

The boys knew that would get her worked up, and that she already made up her mind that she was going with them. "She's so easy to rile up isn't she?" chuckled Yami.

"Yeah, I guess she is." responded Raiden. _"Plus she's cute whenever she gets angry..."_ He though with a slight blush on his face.

 _Yeah, he likes her as well, though they both know that they are too young and not ready for a relationship yet. He would never say to her face that he likes her anyway, so it doesn't matter._

Sora eventually caught up with the duo, and walked beside Raiden. "I take it that you want to come with us?" teased Yami. She crossed her arms and stiffed her nose up at him in response. "I think that would be a yes..." he finished.

And so the three marched off in the direction of their usual training ground.

* * *

They were walking towards the gateway to the village, with the training grounds being just outside the village walls. Raiden made sure that everyone kept a steady pace, as he wanted to get as much done as possible before Sora started complaining that she wanted to go home and draw. As they were about to walk out of the village, Raiden was stopped someone calling his name. "Raiden? Is that Yami and and Sora as well?" asked the elderly voice.

Raiden immediately knew who it was, and turned to see his face. "Old man!" Raiden left the group for a moment to hug the elderly man in front of him.

While Raiden had quick the laid back greeting, Sora and Yami quickly bowed for the man in front of them, surprised that they didn't notice him earlier.

"Hokage!"

"Third Hokage!" they both spoke.

Hiruzen just laughed at the display. "Sorry for surprising you three, just I noticed you lot and I haven't seen you in awhile."

Raiden withdrew from his initial hug. "But I only saw you last week?"

"We see each other every fortnight Raiden, but I can't say the same for Sora and Yami, can I?" he pointed out.

"I suppose you are right." responded Raiden.

"So, how have you two been?" asked Hiruzen.

Sora almost immediately dropped her proper attitude and returned to her normal self. "I've been great! I've had plenty of inspiration for my drawings with all this lovely sunny weather lately." She answered.

Hiruzen chuckled. "That's good, I trust that the shop is doing fine as well?"

Sora's smile dropped a little at that. "We haven't been getting too many more customers lately, it seems as though not many people like the western food that we serve."

"I don't see why not, the last time I ate there the food was quite lovely indeed!" said the Hokage. Sora lightened up a little bit at that.

Both Raiden and Yami put a hand on Sora's shoulder. "There is no doubt that the food you make is terrific Sora, it's just that you are going through a sour patch right now, things will get better soon. We promise that, right Yami?" said Raiden.

Yami nodded. "He's right Sora, I certainly know for sure that I wouldn't want to eat anywhere else!" he finished, rubbing his belly.

Sora was in much joy after hearing the words of her friends. "Thanks guys, I'm sure that mum and dad would love to hear that too."

Hiruzen chuckled to himself again. _"These three have always been such good friends to one another. There is no doubt in my mind that you will all grow to be exceptional shinobi..."_ he turned his eyes to Raiden. _"Especially you Raiden, you've already shown the required skills to be a great leader in this village..."_ he thought with a smile. He was brought out of his thinking by a question from Raiden. "What are you doing out here anyway old man?"

"I had some errands to attend to and my back was getting stiff from sitting in my office all day, so I decided to take a walk." he answered.

"Do you need help with any of those errands?" asked Sora.

A lightbulb went of inside the Hokage head. "There is something I could use your help with in fact, I would appreciate some assistance if that's not too much trouble?" he asked the group.

"Not a problem at all Lord Hokage! We were only going to waste our afternoon training anyway..." answered Yami.

Raiden snickered a little at the ending of Yami's answer. "Hey! Training is never a waste of time, if you got that through your head you would be allot stronger than what you already are." he scolded with his hands on his hips.

"Sorry that not all of us like working our butt's off unless we have to!" shot back Yami.

"Maybe if you both shut up for a second, we could maybe listen to what the Hokage wants us to do?" interjected Sora.

Raiden and Yami continued to glare at each other, before sighing and turning towards Hiruzen.

Hiruzen waited until he had their full attention before continuing. "I need to speak to Iruka about a very delicate matter concerning tomorrow's genin exam, but I have a plethora of paperwork waiting for me back in my office. If it's not too much trouble, could you please go find him and tell him to report to the Hokage's office as soon as he can?"

Having heard the instructions loud and clear, everyone nodded. "Do you know where Iruka-sensei might be?" asked Raiden.

Hiruzen was about to answer, but some cogs turned in his mind. _"I am interrupting them from their training, maybe I could somehow turn this into a training exercise..."_ the old man nodded his head. "Yes, I do know a couple of locations where he might be, but I'm going to make this into a challenge for you three to overcome."

All three tilted their heads in confusion. "What kind of challenge?" asked Yami.

"It's simple really. You have 2 and a half hours to find Iruka. You can use any jutsu you wish, but you cannot extract any information from anyone wearing a Leaf Village forehead protector. Do you all understand?" he asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Alright then, your time starts now!" exclaimed Hiruzen.

As soon as he finished that, Raiden took off back towards the heart of the village, with Yami and Sora beside him.

* * *

"You took off pretty fast, I assume you might have an idea of where he is?" asked Yami.

Raiden, Sora and Yami were running and jumping across the rooftops of the village.

"I only spoke to him in our classroom 25 minutes ago, being a teacher it would make sense that he has to file some kind of paperwork before he leaves. So logically, wouldn't he be at the academy still?" answered Raiden.

"That's perfect!" said Sora.

"Hah, good thinking Raiden."

"Thanks guys, but we should probably high tail it to the academy now before he leaves." said Raiden. Everyone agreed with his statement, and sped up.

They were moving so fast that when they reached the academy, they all almost failed to notice a group of kids near the swing in the background. Raiden noticed a familiar chakra signal amongst the group, and held up his hand for everyone to stop, and looked towards the swing.

"Umm... why are we stopping Raiden?" asked Yami. Raiden didn't immediately answer him, prompting him to look at where Raiden's eyes were pointing. He concentrated for a second, before speaking. "Naruto looks like he needs our help..."

"I thought it was him, I recognised his chakra signal." Both Raiden and Yami took off to where Naruto was, leaving Sora behind to catch up. "What's going on?" asked Raiden.

"He's being beat up by a group of kids, he's not fighting back for some reason..." answered Yami, rather confused at the fact.

When they reached the group of bullies, Yami immediately rushed one of the kids, and pushed him over. "HEY, back off!" shouted Yami.

The boy that fell over, had a pissed off look on his face, angry that someone had the nerve to push him. "It's none of your business, I was putting the demon boy in his place!" he snarled.

"Yeah!"

"What he said!"

His friends had stopped ganging up on Naruto, and rushed to help their friend on his feet.

"What did he ever do to you, huh? I'm sure the most it could've been was one of his stupid pranks." continued Yami.

Raiden took the opportunity to rush to Naruto's aid, and extended his hand for him to grab. "Hey, you alright Naruto?" he asked the abuse victim.

Naruto stared at the hand in confusion, before taking it and standing up. "Thanks Raiden... but why would you come and help me?" he asked, confusion plastered on his face.

"I can't just stand by and watch a classmate get beat up like that, can I?" he answered with a smirk.

Naruto looked a little worse for wear, but it did little to hide the smile on his face. "Now back to my question, are you hurt?" asked Raiden.

"Nah, I've taken allot worse than that before." laughed Naruto.

Raiden didn't quite know how to respond to such a statement being said nonchalantly like that. _"I've heard that Naruto commonly gets bullied like that, but how can he say that without so much a care in the world? He's bleeding from his nose and his eye is bruising as I'm looking at him!"_ Raiden opted to not speak his thoughts out loud on this occasion. "That's good to hear Naruto." he said, returning Naruto's grin.

Raiden turned his head to see Sora panting behind him. _"She must've finally caught up."_

Sora was looking at Naruto and his nose bleed, and quickly swung her backpack off her shoulders.

"Can you do first aid on his injuries? I'm going to help Yami." said Raiden.

"I'm already on it!" she responded, pulling out a first aid pack out of her bag. Both she and Raiden shared a nod, before he ran off. Sora pulled some band aids out of her first aid kit, along with some tissue and ran up to Naruto. "Hey Naruto, take these two sheets of toilet paper and use them to stop the nose bleed. I'll put band aids on your cuts."

Naruto took the sheets of paper, and just stood there with a bewildered look on his face, swapping his gaze between Raiden and Yami in a brawl with the four boys who attacked him, and Sora who was tending to a cut on his right cheek. "I heal pretty fast you know, you don't have to do thi-."

"Nonsense! I'm not going to let someone bleed if I can do something about it!" she cut him off. He looked tense, on the look out for something almost. "We're not going to hurt you, so just relax a little bit, okay?" she said nicely.

"... Thanks, Sora." he said with his smile returning. He shoved the bits of toilet paper up both of his nostrils and waited for Sora to patch up the cut just under his eye.

Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "See! It wasn't so bad now was it?" she asked the rhetorical question.

Naruto scoffed and crossed his arms. Sora giggled at his childish reaction. Naruto was about to run and help Yami and Raiden, but when he turned they were already both standing over the squad of four. "Hey Naruto, I think these punks have something want to say to you!" shouted Yami.

Naruto was hesitant, but convinced himself it would be fine and ran over to them, with Sora at his side. "Yes?" he asked when he reached the boys.

"W-we're s-s-sorry!" one of them stammered out. He appeared to be the ring leader of the group. Naruto was immediately confused by the sudden apology. "Huh?" he got out.

"Y-yeah, what he said!"

"We won't b-bully you a-again!"

Naruto's eyes grew wider with each sentence. He had a sneaking suspicion that they apologising more out of fear from Raiden and Yami, but he had never received an apology from someone who's bullied him before. "Do you mean it?" he asked the boys.

They looked like they weren't going to say anything, but a reminding glare from Yami made them talk. "Yes, we p-promise..." said the ring leader.

Naruto was about to say something else to the boys, but Yami got in first. "Alright, you four, scram!" he said commandingly. They all proceeded to scramble to their feet before starting to run away.

"WAIT!" shouted Naruto, stopping them in their tracks. They all turned their heads towards the blond. "...I don't know who you are, but I really appreciate the apology, thank you..." he said.

The four simply nodded their heads, before continuing their run out of the academy grounds and onto the streets.

Naruto, Yami, Raiden and Sora continued to look in the direction they ran before turning to each other. "Alright, they shouldn't come back anytime soon." said Yami.

"They won't, or else we'll kick their butt's again!" exclaimed Sora, slamming her fist into her palm.

"Thanks again for helping me out guys." thanked Naruto.

"No worries, are you sure that you are alright Naruto?" asked Raiden.

"You've already asked me that twice, and that was before I got medical treatment!"

Raiden chuckled. "I take it I'm going to get the same answer then?"

"He's fine Raiden, stop teasing him." said Sora.

"Hey Naruto, can I ask you a question?" jumped in Yami.

Naruto silently approved. "Why didn't you fight back against them? You may be the deadlast of our class, but you still should've clobbered them easily." he asked.

" _I was just wondering the same thing..."_ thought both Raiden and Sora.

Naruto's smile slowly faded away, it appeared like he didn't want to answer. Sora picked this up immediately. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to Naruto..." she said as ran put a hand on his shoulder.

Naruto found her niceness quite comforting, and found it easier to speak. "It's not exactly the nicest thing to talk about, but if I beat up anyone who bullies me then they get their parents and _they_ come and bully me as well..." he answered solemnly.

Raiden and the others were quite downcast now. _"I've known for awhile that he gets bullied, but I didn't think it was to this extent!"_ thought Raiden.

"Do they hurl verbal abuse or does it get physical like it did with those boys?" Yami further asked.

"...There is always someone calling me a demon or a monster, but sometimes there are some people who hit me..." answered Naruto.

" _Thanks Yami, that did absolutely nothing to lighten the mood."_ thought Sora.

"... But don't worry about it, I've dealt with it my whole life so I'm used to it by now. All it does is give me more motivation to get stronger! he continued, giving his trademark grin in the process.

Everyone suspected that there is maybe something hiding beneath that smile, but it seemed to be infectious and brightened the mood.

"Okay then, we won't ask anymore questions then." said Raiden.

Naruto seemed to like that very much. "Thanks Raiden."

Sora was happy that they stopped Naruto from getting bullied but she couldn't help feel a little sad at the fact that he was always alone. Suddenly, she got an idea in her head! "Hey Naruto, were you doing anything here before we came?" she asked him.

He tilted his head in confusion. "Not really, why?"

"Because we are actually on a mission from the Hokage, to find Iruka-sensei and give him a message!" she exclaimed.

Both Raiden and Yami realised instantly what she was getting at. "What she's asking is do you want to help us with the mission?" Raiden finished for her. Sora glared daggers at him for jumping ahead of her.

"You want me to help you find Iruka-sensei?" he said, trying to confirm the question. Everyone nodded in response.

"Since I know you see him more than any of us, you might have a better idea of where to find him?" pointed Yami.

Naruto rubbed his chin and thought for a moment about where he might be. "I saw him leave awhile ago, but I know where he'll be in a couple of hours though!" he said.

"And where is that?" asked Raiden.

"At Ichiraku Ramen! He invited me on his way out to have dinner with him there."

Everyone sighed and dropped their heads. _"That's still hours away! What are we going to do until then?"_ wondered Yami and Sora. Luckily for them though, Raiden already thought of what they could do. He clapped his hands before speaking. "Alright then, how about we do some training here instead?" he asked the group.

A sweat drop formed on Sora's face. _"Seriously, the first thing he thinks of is always training..."_

"Well, that was what were going to do before we ran into the Hokage anyway, so I don't see why not?" shrugged Yami.

"Fine, we'll train here until we go to Ichiraku with Naruto later..." sighed Sora.

"Huh? You guys are coming with me?" asked Naruto.

"Of course! Going with you is best way to guarantee that we run into Iruka-sensei without wasting time when we could be training!" said Raiden.

"Oh alright then. I'll be back over there on swing where you found me earlier." said Naruto, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking off.

"Hold on Naruto..." interjected Yami, grabbing hold of Naruto's jumpsuit with one hand and pulling him back. "You didn't think that we were just going to say we were going to train right in front of you without letting you join in, did you?"

Naruto looked a little bit shocked. "H-huh? That would actually be okay with you?" he asked.

"Of course! Why wouldn't it?" said Sora.

"You bring extra energy around wherever you go, it'll inspire us to try our absolute hardest." continued Raiden.

Naruto's face beamed. "I'd love to train with you guys!" he almost jumped at the prospect of being invited to train with others.

"Alright, let's head of to the target practise dummies first!" exclaimed Raiden, both he and Naruto immediately began running there, leaving Sora and Yami to sigh and shake their heads before running to join them.

Little did they all know, was that there were a pair of eyes watching and listening in to everything they were saying for the last 5 minutes. The bush that the perpetrator was hiding in concealed his smile. _"I'm glad I forgot one of the reports on my desk, or I would've missed all of that."_ he thought. When he was certain that neither of the young ninja could see him, he jumped out of the bush to reveal none other than Iruka! _"I was going to go see the Hokage anyway after some ramen with Naruto, but I guess he wants to see me as well if he's sent someone to get me... I'll go see him now instead."_ With that, he body flickered away with the intention of seeing the Hokage.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

Wow, first chapter complete! I felt it was satisfactory enough to be worthy of a first chapter. I did originally intend for it to be allot longer, but it's taken me a little over 4 days just doing this much! Instead, all of that shall be written in chapters 2 and 3 (possibly 4, but I highly doubt it).

How do you like Raiden, Yami and Sora so far? I'm going to explain a bit more on the rather boring brawl in the next chapter, and I'll explain Raiden's sensory ability in due time, but just know that there is a reason why he was only able to sense Naruto in this chapter (I did actually make a blunder in this chapter in regards to that sensory ability, but I'm sure nobody is going to notice until I explain it).

I think I may have made it quite obvious what one of the eventual pairings is going to be already, but that's fine because it's not happening for long while anyway. I've decided on what the other pairing is going to be, and oh boy it's a dousey!

The next chapter is going to be up in maybe a week or two, like I promised for this one on the prologue.


	3. Hide And Seek

Can I just say, Mr ' **anakin** **namikaze** ', thank you so much for the self esteem boost! I wasn't expecting to get any readers let alone reviews until I was at least a good handful of chapters inwards. To wake up and read a welcoming response like that right after I upload my first ever chapter does wonders for the soul!

This chapter gives ALLOT of hints and foreshadows allot of what is going to happen moving forward in this series, so while it may seem cheesy at first, it's very important to read this one. There isn't really much else to say other than to say thanks again to all of those who have read the story thus far.

So with that, let's begin!

* * *

"Soooooo... are we just going to keep throwing out kunai at these dummies for the next two hours?" asked Sora, obviously bored out of her mind.

"What else is there to really do besides spar?" responded Raiden, throwing his kunai. It flew through the air and impacted straight in the middle of his dummies' head.

"Well we _could_ spar, but no offence to Naruto but he can't really match us when it comes to taijutsu... " interjected Yami, doing the exact same action as Raiden and having the kunai land in exactly the same spot. It seems as though he was bored as well.

"HEY, I HEARD THAT!" shouted Naruto from the other side of the dummy yard.

"You know, you could've said it a little bit nicer Yami." frowned Sora.

"It's the truth, isn't it? Why should I sugar coat it. It's not going to do anything besides give him more motivation to train harder."

Raiden sighed. _"They are right though, this isn't all that exciting, aiming at the same damn circle with each throw...maybe Naruto might know something else we can do since he hangs out here allot."_ he threw one more kunai at the dummy before calling him out. "Naruto, is there anything more exciting that we can do out here? I love training, but aiming at practise dummies for the next two hours isn't exactly productive as we can already throw dead straight."

"You've got no right to complain Raiden, you were the one who thought it would be a good idea for us to come here in the first place!" said Yami, noting the irony in Raiden's words.

Raiden ignored the complaints from Yami and Sora, and listened to Naruto. "Well... this may sound a bit stupid, but we can play hide and seek?" he answered.

"Huh? Hide and seek? Why would we want to play that of all games?" said Sora.

"Because it's fun!" exclaimed Naruto.

"... It's a child's game, I'm not stooping to the level of a chil-."

"No, that's actually a perfect idea!" said Raiden, clicking his fingers and cutting off Yami."

Sora and Yami tilted their heads in confusion. "Why?" they both asked in unison.

"Because it gives us an opportunity to practise our hiding or escape skills. We can adjust the rules from a normal game and we can play a ninja version of the game!" he continued.

"Y-yeah, that's _totally_ what I meant." said Naruto with a sweat drop.

Raiden deadpanned. _"That's not what you meant at all, was it... oh well, it doesn't matter though. You gave me something to work with at least..."_

Sora and Yami thought about it for a moment, before shrugging and agreeing to play along.

"Sure, why not?"

"That could actually be a little bit of fun!"

Both Raiden and Naruto were happy that they agreed to go with their idea. "Alright then, in that case let's iron out some rules." said Raiden.

* * *

 _Several minutes later..._

"Is everyone good to go?" asked Raiden.

Everyone nodded. "Alright, I'll take the liberty of going first. When I say go, I'll block my eyes and you guys run. After that, you've got 10 seconds to run before I start looking for you. Anything is aloud including the use of any jutsu, but the only rule is that you cannot leave the academy grounds. You've officially 'found' someone when you successfully tap a part of their body, or they remain in your sight for more than 10 seconds, when everybody is found we meet back here. Everyone got that?" he continued.

"Yes sir!" responded Naruto, giving a mock salute.

Everyone chuckled at that little joke.

"Okay then... 3...2...1...GO!" shouted Raiden.

Raiden had already blocked his vision by the time he said go, but everyone left that fast that it really wouldn't have mattered if he didn't have his eyes closed.

" _1..._ "

He didn't waste time and started to think about where everyone would be hiding while counting. _"...2...3..."_

He though of a couple spots that would be ingenious hiding areas, but he thought that Sora would probably be the only one to hide in one of them.

" _...4...5..."_

Sora wouldn't put too much effort into her hiding spot, so he would probably stumble across her at some point while finding the other two, no use worrying about her. So... where would Yami be?

"...6...7..."

Yami is the type to mess with someone's mind, so he would probably hide somewhere in plain sight, but super inconspicuous. Thinking about where he is would only serve to fall into Yami's trap, that's his style after all.

"...8...9..."

...That left just Naruto.

" _... 10!"_

He opened his eyes, and took a brief look around his surroundings before focusing on where Naruto would be... he quickly found his answer.

" _I didn't think of this...I can still sense his chakra signal...I know for a fact that he's hiding in the administrative area."_ Not wanting to spoil the fun for Naruto, considering it was his idea after all, Raiden decided to find one of the others before grabbing him.

"I may as well start looking for Yami, I'll probably find Sora along the way." he said to himself, before jumping away.

" _This would just be allot easier if I could sense Sora and Yami as well..."_

* * *

Raiden was running through the academy classrooms and checking everywhere he thought possible for where Sora may be hiding. _"I've been searching for an hour now, this building is ridiculously big! I've already looked outside in every possible place...surely not all three of them chose to hide in the administrative building...would they?"_

His efforts were getting more and more frantic as each minute rolled on. In each room, he had to check under all the tables, in the cupboards, basically every place that her body could physically fit. Every now and then, he thought that he could hear a whisper or a giggle as he went through the building. He left yet another one of the classrooms, and heard the small whispers again. It was really starting to piss him off now. He quickly turned behind him down the rest of the hallway, but he saw absolutely nothing and heard even less. _"First I was starting to get pissed by the amount of unrequited sound, but now there is nothing at all, not even a hint of background sound..."_

He really was starting to get suspicious now. He was knocked out of his train of thought by the sound of glass shattering around the corner of the hallway. Leaving the game for a moment, he immediately ran to the source of the sound, hoping that nobody was hurt.

He wheeled around the bend, but nobody was there, just the smashed remains of a white vase that appeared to have fallen from a pedestal against the wall. He knew it would be stupid to pick up the pieces of glass with his hand an risk unnecessary lacerations to his fingers, so he decided to quickly run to the teacher's office and tell them about the vase. He started running, but he was stopped by a knocking on the window behind him, where the pedestal for the smashed vase previously was.

Standing on the other side of the window pane, was none other than the smiling figure of Sora! Raiden ran up to the window and slammed his palms against the pane. _"That evil witch...she's just teasing me!"_

Raiden was glaring daggers at her, while she just giggled and waved at him. Part of him was confused at how she was even standing up this high, but that disappeared when he leaned in and saw some skirting that she was standing on.

Raiden's frown was starting to dissipate however, when he started to realise she was about to succumb to one of the rules of the game. _"...5...6..."_ she's forgotten about the 10 second rule! If you are seen for longer than 10 seconds, you are considered 'found'.

" _Come on, keep smiling at me all you want Sora, you'll only do yourself a disservice...7...8..."_ Raiden now sported an almost maniacal grin as her allotted time was about to expire.

*tap* *tap* *tap*

" _Huh?"_ Raiden turned to another one of the window panes, and standing there was...another Sora?

" _U-um... but if Sora is over there, than who is here?"_ He stared at the original Sora.

*poof*

The original Sora vanished! _"Huh? A clone!"_ Raiden was flabbergasted. He turned to the other Sora that was now standing out the window across from him, before she too proceeded to vanish in a plume of smoke.

" _A distraction..._ " He looked down to the smashed vase, except there was nothing to look at, the vase and all of it's remains had disappeared along with the clones. _"And it also looks like she cast a genjutsu on me, to make me think there was a smashed vase and think there was tapping on the glass. It was certainly effective in leading me here and keeping me occupied..."_

Raiden was certainly frustrated that he had fallen for her trap, but smirked when he realised that she's just exposed herself. _"For her to cast a genjutsu on me and those clones, she has to be close. I was probably about to find her, so she had to distract me and give her a chance to run..."_

There was a slight flaw in the rules that she's obviously taken advantage of, you don't necessarily need to stay in the one spot the entire duration of the round. If you are about to discovered, you _can_ run to a new spot. _"In that case, I need to start running back the way I came, that way makes the most sense for her to run, since it's away from me."_

Raiden ran back up the hallway, but heard the sound of feet running across the floor behind him. He turned and saw a slight glimpse of someone running into one of the classrooms. _"Found you Sora."_

He bolted into the classroom, making a rather loud ruckus doing so. So loud infact, that it made the little kid who was standing in the middle of the room jump. "AH, I W-WASN'T D-DOING ANYTHING WRONG, I WAS JUST LOOKING FOR SOMETHING!" screamed the boy.

Raiden sighed. _"Well, looks like it wasn't Sora..."_ The boy in front of him was clearly the one who ran in here.

The kid relaxed when he saw that it wasn't any of the academy instructors, but only a teenager a couple of years older than him. "Sorry about that, I thought that you might have been one of the academy teachers." he said sheepishly.

Taking a moment to look at the child, Raiden chuckled. "Don't worry about it, are you actually looking for something though?" he asked.

"I am, I think I may have left my notepad in here today. I need for a homework assignment, so I'm trying to find it."

"Do you need any help with that? I can spare a couple of minutes to help look."

The boy smiled. "I would appreciate it very much if you did help me find it."

Raiden and the boy spent a good couple of minutes, checking in every nook and cranny of the classroom, but to no avail.

"...It's not in any of these table lockers, and that's the last of the possible spots it could be in here." sighed Raiden.

"But where else could it be?! said the boy frantically, starting to get super worried.

"Maybe it fell out of your bag? I'd say you should retrace your steps from the moment you left the classroom, and you may find it."

"I really don't want to, but I suppose I should. I'm going to go now, thank you for your help mister!" he said, running out of the classroom with a wave.

"Good luck finding that notepad!" called out Raiden with a smile.

He slumped into one of the chairs, and focused his mind of Naruto's chakra signal. "Yep, he's still there, though he's shifted a little bit."

If he didn't find Sora or Yami soon, he would probably just give up and grab Naruto, at least that way he could have help in the search.

* * *

 _Somewhere in the academy building..._

The boy from earlier was standing against a wall, panting from running as far as he could. When his breathing was back to normal, he made a handsign.

*poof*

In the place of the boy, was Yami.

" _I narrowly escaped that one... although it was worth it to give Sora a little bit more time to escape."_

Yami pushed himself off the wall and walked out the academy doors.

" _I still can't believe he fell for both of those tricks, maybe we are allot better than we thought at this game..."_

He started running back to the dummy yard, for a much needed rest.

When he got there, Sora was already there waiting for him.

"Thanks for the assist Yami." she said.

"No problem, after all, you used your clones to help me first."

Yami and Sora sat down next to each other and layed down, Sora against a dummy and Yami against a pile of wood.

"That was a good idea, to go back to the starting point. He'll never find us here, and we can get a rest while we're at it." said Sora.

"Well I don't know where blondie is, but Raiden will have no chance of catching us unless he gives up or finds Naruto."

"Anywho, how did you occupy him?" asked Sora.

"I transformed into one of the first year students that I met, and convinced Raiden that I was looking for a notepad. Thankfully, he gave me a way to run off without having to think of one myself..."

"That's pretty smart! I get the feeling he's going to hate the transformation and clone jutsu when this is over."

Yami chucked. "Plus I laid an extra trap for him while I escaped. If I know him, he'll run into it soon..."

Sooner came earlier than expected, as a monstrous roar was heard throughout the academy grounds.

"YAMIIIIIIII!"

Yami and Sora burst out laughing at the sound of their closest friend being tortured.

* * *

Raiden was now walking begrudgingly through the halls of the academy, arms drooping at his side.

Turns out that finding his friends was turning out to be quite the challenge. Plus he had beef with Yami after the last trap he fell for.

" _We were supposed to have multiple rounds, but we've only got 20 minutes left!"_ things were starting to look bleak for Raiden. _"Screw this! I'm just going to go find Naruto!"_

Raiden once again focused his mind, but this time, Naruto wasn't in his usual spot, instead it seemed as if he was on the move. _"Hmm? He's walking outside. I guess he got tired of waiting to be found, I personally don't blame him."_

Raiden picked up the pace a little bit, and ran outside to intercept him.

Naruto didn't look even the slightest bit unhappy when he saw Raiden, in fact he seemed happy to spot the grey haired boy. "Geez, what kept you so long! Weren't you and Sasuke supposed to be the star pupils of our class?" called Naruto.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you _wanted_ to lose the game." commented Raiden.

"Well of course I didn't want to be found, but I thought that I _should_ have been found considering how easy my spot was!"

"I'll make sure to find you first next time then. The two hours is nearly up, so I'm giving up and going back to the dummy area to rest until everyone meets up there."

"Giving up? Have you not found everybody yet?" said a slightly confused Naruto.

"...I actually haven't found anyone at all yet. Turns out my assessments of how they would go about this game were completely wrong, and they instead played tricks on me the entire game...and I'm just about fed up with it. You can look for the others on your own if you want, but I'm going to take the long walk back." said Raiden. It wasn't really a long walk, but Raiden was severely tired and grumpy now.

"Nah, I reckon I'll go back with you, take some more practise shots at those dummies again before we head off."

"Alright, well let's go then!" exclaimed Raiden, and off they went.

* * *

"...How long?" asked a very annoyed Raiden.

Neither he or Naruto suspected that Sora and Yami would already be here before they were.

"I'd say around 25 minutes." said a giggling Sora.

A vein was starting grow on Raiden forehead. _"So she booked it here right after that clone stunt! That means I've spent my entire time in that building for no reason at all!"_

"Oh by the way, that kid with the missing notebook said hi again." said Yami with a very obvious smirk on his face.

"The kid with the notebook? How did you know him?" asked a confused Raiden.

Yami made a handsign and transformed into the boy in a plume of smoke.

Raiden stated at him bewilderingly. _"The boy...was HIM!"_

Everyone started laughing at Raiden face, Naruto even fell over from laughing so hard. "HAHAHA, did you transform into someone else to get away from him?" said the laughing blonde.

All Yami could do was nod as he was holding his sternum from his fit.

Everyone stopped laughing though and tensed up immediately. The air was getting thick, it was killing intent. All leaking from Raiden.

Raiden head was down, and his messy grey hair was hiding the eyes from everyone. _"I want to kill them...I want to kill them...I want to kill them..."_

Yami was genuinely starting to get a little bit scared. _"Geez, what did I do to piss him off so badly?!"_ his legs were fully ready to run away given a moments notice.

God, even Naruto was starting to get the chills.

But to everyone's surprise, Raiden started laughing. It was a genuine laugh, not a maniacal and evil laugh that would have fitted the situation. He lifted his face to show a happy smile. "

" _Just where did all that killing intent go!"_ wondered Sora.

"That was pretty smooth Yami. Looks like I really was close to capturing somebody if you had to pull a trick like that on me!"

Yami was still a bit confused at the sudden change of emotion, but accepted to compliment all the same. "Heh, it was nothing. Although I wasn't exactly expecting you to stay for as long as you did. That just made my job a little bit harder."

Then Raiden turned to Sora. "And your trick was amazing! With all the genjutsu and the clones on the wall skirtings, I was super freaked out and confused during all of that!"

Sora blushed at his words. "T-thank you Raiden." she stammered. _"It wasn't really all that difficult although."_

Naruto frowned. "Hey, what about me?" he groaned.

"Oh ah... great job at Hiding Naruto! Nobody had even an inkling of a clue that you were in the administrative building." said Raiden, lying about not being able to see him.

"It wasn't nearly as much as what you said about those two, but I'll take it!" thanked Naruto was a thumbs up.

Raiden chuckled as he thought about what happened. _"I still want to kill those two, particularly Yami, but their execution was stupendous. I certainly know that I am nowhere near as proficient at genjutsu as what they are, I definitely wouldn't have been able to pull off what they did with as much ease."_

His train of thought was interrupted by the grumble of Naruto's stomach. Everyone turned to the boy rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Hehe, I didn't eat breakfast this morning." he said.

"Don't worry about it, I'm pretty hungry as well." said Sora, rubbing her belly.

"Well, what's the time?" asked Yami.

Raiden looks down at the watch on his wrist. "It's 5:45pm. Why?"

"Hmm...I propose an idea..."

"And what's that?" asked Naruto.

"...A race." stated Yami.

"A race? A race where to?" asked Raiden.

"To Ichiraku Ramen of course!" exclaimed Yami.

"That actually sounds like a good idea!" jumped in Sora.

"To Ichiraku's? Count me in!" said Naruto happily.

" _I guess we didn't finish ours from earlier, it can't hurt to have another one now I suppose..."_ Raiden nodded. "Who am I to disagree with everyone, let's do it!"

"Alright. I can't exactly think of a prize right now, so we'll just think of that when we all reach the finish. But there are no rules for this race, the only rule is that you can't disturb anything or anyone else in the village besides us. Sound fair?" said Yami.

Everyone nodded. "Alright then." He reached into his pouch and grabbed out a kunai, then held it up. "I'm going to throw this kunai up in the air, when it lands, we go."

He tossed the ninja tool high up in the air. Everyone was watching it like a hawk, not taking their eyes off it for even a second. The tension was rising dramatically.

When it finally landed, Naruto and Yami took off like bullets, leaving Raiden and Sora in the dust.

Raiden was thinking about the best route to take, but Sora was standing still for a completely different reason. "Raiden, I didn't exactly think about this earlier, but I...um...don't know where Ichiraku Ramen is located..." said a sheepish Sora.

Raiden looked up at Sora, who had her hands behind her back and an embarrassed face.

"You've never been to Ichiraku Ramen before?" asked Raiden.

"I live at a cafe, why would I ever go to another food stand. Duh!" stated Sora.

Raiden quickly grabbed one of Sora's hands from behind her back. "In that case, come with me!" Raiden exclaimed, before running just like Yami and Naruto did, dragging Sora along with him.

"S-SLOW DOWN RAIDEN!" shouted Sora, who's face suddenly became a whole lot redder at the hand contact.

* * *

"How... *puff*... are you already...*puff* eating?" asked a puffed Raiden.

"Hm... *slurp*... what do you mean? I've been here for almost five minutes?" said a confused Naruto.

Yami was leaning against the ramen stand, trying to resist the temptation to order a bowl of the knuckleheads's favourite food.

"How... we ran as fast as we could over the rooftops?" asked Sora.

"Are you nuts? He almost always eats here, of course Naruto knows the best way here!" answered Yami, with a smirk on his face.

" _You followed him here, didn't you Yami. You don't care if you didn't come first, as long as it's not last..."_ thought Raiden.

"Whatever, hey Naruto?" asked Sora, brushing off Yami's answer.

"... *slurp*... Yeah Sora?" replied the slurping blonde.

"When you see Iruka, could you please give him that message, to go to report to the Hokage's office?"

"Actually, I've already been there, so you don't need to worry about it Sora." said an unknown voice.

Everyone turned their heads to the new voice that was behind them, and standing there was Iruka!

"Iruka-sensei!" cried Naruto.

"Hello Naruto, looks like you couldn't wait until I got here before you started eating could you?" chuckled Iruka.

"Well, I didn't eat this morning, and we were messing around all afternoon, soooooo..."

"It's fine Naruto, if you are hungry then of course you should eat!" answered Iruka.

Naruto smiled and turned his attention back to his bowl of almost empty ramen.

"Iruka-sensei, if you don't mind me asking, what did Lord Hokage want with you? He told us it was something to do with the genin exams tomorrow." asked Sora.

"Oh um...just working out the jonin-sensei sensei for all the teams should everyone pass." said Iruka. _"I can't tell them the real reason why I went to see Lord Hokage, but I wasn't lying about it entirely, after all, that was why the Hokage wanted to see me about."_ He turned to Raiden, who had hold of his belly, he was obviously hungry. _"Although, I can at least tell Raiden part of it, it was him who gave me the idea."_

"I'm not sure if I can resist another minute here without buying some ramen, I think that we should head off now." said Yami. Looks like everyone is hungry.

"I agree, my belly is making weird animal sounds and I don't like it." complained Sora.

"Alright, let's go then. Bye Naruto, good luck tomorrow!" said Raiden with a wave. Both Yami and Sora did the same.

"Thanks for helping me out earlier and letting me hang out with you, good luck to you guys as well!" exclaimed Naruto. He gave them a smile and wave, before turning to Ayame in the stand and asking for another bowl. The empty ramen dishes were starting to tower.

Raiden and the others started walking, but Iruka stopped Raiden with his hand.

"Raiden, I need to talk to you about something..."

Raiden tilted his head in confusion. "About what?"

"About what we talking about earlier at the academy." he answered, gesturing towards Naruto with his eyes.

Raiden quickly realised what he meant. "Alright." He looked and Sora and Yami, who stopped alongside him. "I'll catch up, you guys just start going to the cafe. This is somewhat important." he said, with a serious tone.

Sora and Yami were curious, but left it at that and left like he said.

"Let's quickly do this before Naruto drags his attention away from the ramen." Iruka dragged Raiden around the side of the stand.

Now that they were hidden, Iruka began.

"I just wanted to tell you that no matter what happens tomorrow, Naruto will definitely pass. In fact, I've already organised his genin team!" said Iruka, with a happy smile.

"Really! But why is he a guaranteed pass though?" asked Raiden.

"If the problem really is down to his chakra control and the high amount that he is using, then the Hokage has figured a way for him to pass. I wish I could tell you how, but I'm leaving that a surprise for the others to figure out after tomorrow. Is that alright?"

"Of course, as long as he passes, that's perfect!" exclaimed Raiden.

Iruka rushed a finger to his lips. "Shhhh, I don't want Naruto to find out until tomorrow."

Raiden just simply nodded. "Is that why you went to see the Old Man?"

Iruka nodded in kind.

"Yes that was, but I've taken up enough of your time. I'll let you get back to Sora and Yami now." said Iruka, gesturing with his head to run off.

"Okay, I will. Thanks Iruka-sensei!"

Raiden ran off, and quickly caught up with the other two, who were deliberately walking slow.

"Are we allowed to know what you and Iruka were talking about?" asked Sora.

Raiden shook his head. "Unfortunately not, but you'll find out soon!" said Raiden, who he himself didn't know what to expect.

"No use fussing over it then, let's hurry up now and get the cafe, I'm starving!" said a very hungry Yami.

Everyone agreed, and started running to the cafe instead of walking.

Raiden thought about Naruto, and how he was bullied by everyone for not passing the genin test before. _"Don't worry Naruto, you'll be fine this time. I promise..."_

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

The second chapter is complete! I would've gotten it out sooner, but I've been so hooked on Phoenix Wright the last couple of days that I haven't exactly had the chance to do any story writing.

Although I wasn't writing, I was still thinking of possible ideas for the future, and if I go ahead with my latest one (which I think I will), you will not expect it at all. I've yet to work out the kinks in the idea, but it's really really really cool!

I was planning on adding another scene to this chapter which does include a little bit of romance, but I felt as if the chapter was long enough. Besides, I thought the hide and seek thing was pretty cool, don't you reckon? I also was supposed to include some more scenes with that, but something will happen later on in this story that will be entirely based off this game of hide and seek, and I want to save it for that instead. Next chapter will not have any filler type events as I really do need to hurry up and get this story kicked into gear. So next up, is when the _real_ story starts. Allot of important things happen to setup the rest of the story.

Expect it to be uploaded within the next two weeks, I'm going back to school tomorrow so I'm not going to have as much time from now on as I did for the first two chapters.


End file.
